Section 377 verdict nears, wife wants man booked for oral sex

NEW DELHI: At a time when the Supreme Court has reserved its verdict on pleas for decriminalisation of Section 377 of IPC, a woman has moved the SC seeking fastening of the stringent provision against her husband for forcing her to perform "unnatural" oral sex during their four years of marriage.

A bench of Justices N V Ramana and M M Shantanagoudar issued notice to the husband after the wife’s counsel Aparna Bhat accused him of forcing the woman to perform oral sex on him and said this was nothing but "sex against the order of nature", which has been categorised as an offence under Section 377.

A five-judge SC bench had on Tuesday reserved its verdict on petitions seeking decriminalisation of Section 377. Justice D Y Chandrachud, who was part of the bench, had observed during the hearing that oral sex and anal sex between a consenting husband and wife could not be categorised as "unnatural sex" or "sex against the order of nature".

But this petition will add to the already complicated issue of decriminalising Section 377. The woman, who married the man in 2014 in Sabarkanta in Gujarat after being engaged to him in 2002 when she was just 15 years old, complained that her doctor husband frequently forced her to indulge in oral sex against her wishes.

Bhat said, "Her husband was incapable of comprehending her objection. The husband, aside from his insistence on oral sex, which was unnatural in the perception of the woman, persisted with her to allow video recording of their physical encounters. She was compelled to put up with the depraved demands, which were often accompanied by threats and physical abuse."

The woman had lodged an FIR accusing her husband of rape and unnatural sex. When the husband moved for quashing of FIR, the Gujarat HC said that under Section 375 there is no provision for marital rape and also rejected arguments that allegations constituted an offence under Section 377.